Any Monster Hunters here?

[Super Saiyajin Joshua]

I recently reacquired a PSP for my birthday (the first one was stolen, by my sister of all people) and one of the games I picked up was Monster Hunter Freedom 2. The core of this game is nothing more than a repetitive grind but I love it! I can't explain it. There's no story to the game the only thing you really do is kill monsters, take their body parts, make said body parts into better weapons and armor, use the better weapons/armor to kill stronger monsters, repeat.

The appeal of the game for me is the visuals. It's a very pretty game with some great scenery. Also all of the larger monsters are a fun challenge in their own way.

Anyone else out there a Hunter? Wanna share stories or tips?

[DekarTheDragoon]

Big Monster Hunter fan here. I'm generally not interested in the type of game that it is (Action, no RPG elements), but the amount customizing available is almost limitless and keeps me playing. I love how almost every piece of armor is different. I really enjoy being given control over what my character looks like, armor included, and nothing I've played even comes close to competing with Monster Hunter. Add in the fact I absolutely adore grinding for things, and, well, Monster Hunter fits the bill nicely.

I haven't played recently, though. My PSP's battery lately is about as useful as a can of tuna. I currently get 5 minutes unplugged from the wall before it dies. :sigh:
As such, I'm not nearly as far into this game as I'd like, but having a portable system that can't leave the wall kinda defeats the purpose.

I've been a Hunter since the first game came out on the PS2. That game was, for better or for worse, infinitely more difficult than the PSP versions. Of course, there was an easily accessible Online mode, which made things better. Ad-hoc is nice, but I know all of 1 person who plays Monster Hunter, and to put it nicely, he doesn't bring a whole lot to the hunting party... :sd:

Back then, I was a big time Spear and Hammer user. In MHF:2, though, I've moved on to the Katana and Dual Swords mostly. Certainly has added a challenge to the game, working with mostly sub-par weapons, but they're fun to use. Still use the Hammer occasionally, as the Katana/DS combo is far from usable on many of the monsters.

As for tips, I'll give anyone who reads this the best advice ever. Hit it 'til it dies. :P

As for a tip somewhat less obvious than the previous, I'd suggest trying to get at least adequate with every weapon. And at the very least, keep a Hammer around, and perhaps a Spear. There are monsters that are hell with almost every weapon type that Hammers make look foolish. Just about every monster in the game has a weapon type that is undeniably better to use against them, it's just a matter of figuring out what weapons are good and bad against each enemy. I mean, it is possible to go through the game with just 1 weapon type, but... Enjoy a bunch of 40 min. battles O.O

Hammers are broken, though. They absolutely destroy some monsters, are good against almost everything else, and have a rare enemy or 2 that eats you for using the Hammer. If you want to make the game easy, just become merely adequate with the hammer. A marginal Hammer user can often kill enemies quicker than skilled users of other weapon types.

[Super Saiyajin Joshua]

I started off with Sword and Shield. But as soon as I could get Kut-Ku parts I made a bow and have been using that since. You're advice is sound though. I've been focusing on the one weapon and had intended to just stick with it.

I just finished a full Kut-Ku armor set too and it looks really cool.

Also there's a really good website called Skies of Crimson. (www.skiesofcrimson.com) It's currently down as the original host was becoming difficult. The owner is working on bringing it back up. Great, helpful community and a lot of guides and weapons charts.

[DekarTheDragoon]

Ah, the bow. Can't really go wrong with the bow most of the time. If one HAD to go through the game with just 1 weapon type, that would probably be the best one. It's very similar to the Hammer, in that very few things are going to kick your ass because of using it. Bows, for the most part, have the lowest damage rate in the game, but what they lack in speed they make up for in safety.

A few things about the bow, though. The single shot is almost never worth shooting. It's damage % is just far too low, even with the strongest bows in the game. Also, the best charge to use is generally Pierce. If you can aim it properly, higher level Pierce shots can hit 5+ times for a much higher % than any other shot type. Rapid is the next best, and Spread is worst. In case you didn't know, the status screen of the weapon shows what type of shot you shoot at each flash while charging. It is almost always worth shooting well-aimed Pierce shots, even if they are a lower level shot.

As for websites, I reccomend checking out a couple guides at GameFAQs (http://www.gamefaqs.com/portable/psp/game/934395.html) . More specifically, the Melee Damage FAQ, and maybe the Bow Damage Formula FAQ. Especially the first, as damage hit-boxes are so important with Melee weapons. The Monster Hitzone Charts section is always extremely useful, so even if you could care less how damage is formulated, those are still worth checking out. I'm not sure how aware you are to the inflated-ness of the numbers the game uses, but that is also covered in the first guide.

I would also reccomend staying far away from the message boards there. Skies of Crimson may have a helpful community, but GameFAQs does not. Every single question asked there gets a 'Hit it 'til it dies' response. The 'Vets' are laughable at best, due to the lack of help they give. They'd rather just make fun of someone who doesn't know as opposed to helping out. There are a few good citizens there, but it's better to just stay away imo :sigh:

Also, the best quick way for deciding what weapon of a certain type to use would be here (http://reign-of-the-rathalos.com/blog/?page_id=218). If you're unsure whether using that weapon with element or the weapon with higher raw damage, that will tell you relatively quickly.

The last resource I would reccomend is none other than Youtube. Knowing your enemy is very important, and what better way to see what he can do and how to dodge and attack safely than to watch someone who spends 90% of their life playing this game :sd:
Skies of Crimson has a bunch of video tutorials, but they (at least, used to) lack a good amount of variety. There is no lack of videos on Youtube. Just search enemy name + weapon type and chances are you'll find a video of someone doing it. Of course, it is up to personal judgement as to whether this video you chose is worth learning from, so some patience is required.

I could probably keep going on and on about Monster Hunter, but I won't. This post is already infinitely larger than initially planned, so I think it's time I stop. This topic has really re-ignited my desire to play the game, though. Maybe I'll go get a new battery today and do just that...

[Super Saiyajin Joshua]

I learned a long time ago to stay away from the GameFAQs message boards. When I first started MH I went there, determined to use bows, and asked what bow I should start with. The only responses I got were "Don't use bows they suck!" and other crap like that. Nothing helpful. If Skies ever comes back up I recommend their Message Board though. Very helpful community.

[pantsmoose]

Yeah! Monster Hunter is crazy awesome!

I actually got Freedom 2 about a year ago and have put in over 300 hours. Unfortunately, I couldn't stick with the "just use one weapon and stick with it" mentality, and I use just about everything now.

I started off mostly with longswords and bows, thinking that a lot of the other weapons just weren't my style. Personally, I'm still not a fan of bowguns and light bowguns, especially since bows rock. And after I started using everything, I began to weigh which ones were good against which monsters (for example, I like demon dancing yian kut ku and spirit combo-ing rathian). But, honestly, I can see going through a lot of monsters with just one weapon type.

My most recent additions were the defense masters, lance and gunlance, though, of the two, I definitely prefer the explode-y one (wyvern's fire as rathalos lands, for example, is a really fun experience). And for these, I made the Auroros Haku set, which means I'm a friggin wall.

As for friends, well...I'm in a different situation. I got three of my friends into the game, so it's not quite so bad. The main problem is, one of them contributes very little to the equation (in fact, he usually dies at least once per quest), which leads me to try and exclude him from the quests we go on. He's made us fail high rank Black Gravios so many times....

[Kinomoto_Shinji]

I started playing it with some friends a month ago (2ndG). It was interesting at first, but I've lost all interest in it after a few hours of play. I only got it to have something to do with my Japanese friends...but in all honesty I find the game really boring. I can see the appeal, but if I want to level grind, I'll play an Atlus/Nippon Icchi game.

[pantsmoose]

So, uh...is anyone else excited about Unite coming out? I don't do the whole thing where you store games on your memory stick, so this is a huge thing for me. I'm just disappointed to hear that the G rank missions might be too difficult to take on by myself. I hope they make a definite thing where you ad hoc with the ps3 to get online.

[Daichi]

I used to play monster hunter for the ps2, and I loved the game, I think the graphics were outstanding and the gameplay was fun. I adored the amounts of armors, weapons, and upgrades that could be made, it made me hooked on the game itself. I stopped playing it after I got to the dragon level, I tried everything but it was impossible to kill a dragon by yourself (maybe I was under leveled..) I dont really know. But yeh, this game was fun until it got hard.


Does anyone know if capcom has plans to release "Monster Hunter Tri" in the US yet? I heard that its the first game on the wii to charge money for online play, but I would gladly pay it if it got a US release..Anyone know?

[pantsmoose]

I used to play monster hunter for the ps2, and I loved the game, I think the graphics were outstanding and the gameplay was fun. I adored the amounts of armors, weapons, and upgrades that could be made, it made me hooked on the game itself. I stopped playing it after I got to the dragon level, I tried everything but it was impossible to kill a dragon by yourself (maybe I was under leveled..) I dont really know. But yeh, this game was fun until it got hard.


Does anyone know if capcom has plans to release "Monster Hunter Tri" in the US yet? I heard that its the first game on the wii to charge money for online play, but I would gladly pay it if it got a US release..Anyone know?

This is probably way off, but Wiki says that Tri comes out in March 2010. So...they charge!? That's just...annoying. Really annoying. *sigh* Why are all the games I want to play online asking for money?

[Daichi]

I used to play monster hunter for the ps2, and I loved the game, I think the graphics were outstanding and the gameplay was fun. I adored the amounts of armors, weapons, and upgrades that could be made, it made me hooked on the game itself. I stopped playing it after I got to the dragon level, I tried everything but it was impossible to kill a dragon by yourself (maybe I was under leveled..) I dont really know. But yeh, this game was fun until it got hard.


Does anyone know if capcom has plans to release "Monster Hunter Tri" in the US yet? I heard that its the first game on the wii to charge money for online play, but I would gladly pay it if it got a US release..Anyone know?

This is probably way off, but Wiki says that Tri comes out in March 2010. So...they charge!? That's just...annoying. Really annoying. *sigh* Why are all the games I want to play online asking for money?


The japanese release of the game (which will be released on august 1st) will come with a free 20 day online subscription. After the free-trial is over, you can purchase 30 days for 800 wiipoints, 1500 for 60 days, or 2000 for 90 days.

Yeh, it sucks. And most likely if the game ever gets released here it will probably be the same price (hopefully not more).

I think its worth it, considering that its going to be the best wifi game when it comes out (graphically)